Knitting machine for and method of plating



1952 c. F. MILLER KNITTING MACHINE FOR AND METHOD 0F PLATING 3 Shets-Sheet 1 Filed July 20, 1949 INVENTOR.

BY} n g Q o .a L

ATTORNEY Nov. 4, 1952 c. F. MILLER KNITTING MACHINE FOR AND METHOD OF PLATING Filed July 20, 1949 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 kluullillllilli-lillbiillvil 1.

INVENTQR.

ATTORNEY l 1 llllll ll] l I til-J Nov. 4, 1952 c. F. MILLER KNITTING MACHINE FOR AND METHOD OF PLATING Filed July 20, 1949 3 Sheets-Sheet I5 ATTORNEY.

Patented Nov. 4, 1952 UNITED STATES: PATENT OFFICE KNITTING MACHINE FOR AND. METHODv OFI PLATING Charles F. Miller, Philadelphia; Pa.-, assignor to: J acquardv Knitting- Machine..Co.,. Inc.; Philaa delphia, Pa., .a corporation..0f;New;.York

Application J uly 20, 1949, Serial No; 10537 27" 6' Claims; 1

This-inventionrelates to plating in knitting;

that is to say; to the production of knit fabrics in'which each loop-(or"each'of a number-of the loops) is composed of a number of yarns lyingoneupon another.

Heretofore plating has been done 'byvarious placements and"handlings-= ofthe yarns. Thepresent'inventi'on provides asimple method of plating'thatI prefer. Basically this method involves delivering the yarns to the needle bank side by side as it were, i. e. more or less in a plane about perpendicular to the needle staffs, and=then=-- adjacent the -needles thrusting the outermost yarntowardthe'needle staiis and to positions at" one-'i-sideor the=other of the inner With knitmost yarn'length'wise of the needles. ting: machines: employing latch needles, the needle latches" can-be used to thrust the outer yarns to their'positions at the needles.

Preferably I use what I call plating guides. to direct the yarns toward the needles, especially.

when yarn changers are used so that one yarn can be-replaced by another or one set of yarns replaced byanotherset on occasion. The plat.-

ing :guides are locatedbetween the yarnfeeders and-the needle'sn The desired yarn placements.

can b'e'obtained more'readily by a plating guide than by'the movable yarn fingers or feeding fingers of yarn changers.

Further, the invention contemplates the production, when desired, of fabrics having aside or face. formed of yarns.-.of'different characters,.

such as difierent. colors or diflerent textures.

To; this: end it employs the. plating. arrangement referred .to abovein machines that knit by'drawing' somezofthe-loopszto one side of the. fabric. andthe other loops'toatheiother'sidegof the fabric, for: example-in" thez-zmanner, of links-and.-1inl-:srv

machines; Withsuch arrangements, and ;with

outany:manipulationaotherthan .th'at'mentionedabove; and" that which: causes. somedoopsr. to; be; drawnltox. one 1v side: or. face-10f the fabric:.-and. other loops to the opposite side or face, a; side:

of -;the--fabric. can beumadexof yarnsof different characters placed in. various fancy arrangements asrdesired...

The; foregoinggand other matters of. the inven-.

tionare' illustrated .in the accompanying-draws ings; Fig, 1. is. ,a rather diagrammatic. illustra+ tion oisuccessive:relative positions .ofijtwo. yarns; and; say:.successive -needles'ofya. bank operating: or; say, successive: positions: of f the: same "needles whil'ezdratving; a loop. in" accordancewith the:. invention. Fig. 2 is a quite diagrammatimplan.

viewzot'thesmatteraof Figrli. Fig. 3. is;a.- side: elevation of 'theneedle: operations of a links-and links type of:- knitting machine? in accordance with" the present :inventi'on- Fig: 4- is a vertical-i section of the principal parts of one side-0f one form oflinks-anddinksmachine; and Fig. 5 illustratesgenerally'one 'of the known camming'arrangements (for one-feedonly) now used in'such machines; and theapproximaterelation of the yarn guide "to -the=draw-ing of the loops in knitting -machines-. Fig. 6 is-a perspectiveview' of the plating guide'ofotherfigures. Fig. 7 is a plan view-showing the relations of the yarn fingers'of'a yarn changer to such ayarnguide and a circular bank of needles.-

Fi'g: 1 illustrates generally theoperationsoi knitting with' plating in" accordance: withthe= present invention. As shown, a black-yarn l0 and a: whiteyarn- II are fed to theneedles In the in .turn is -.mounted on, say, the cam ring of the machine, while actuators 18. for. the fingers and cooperating movable members l9, adjusted by a pattern mechanism. (not shown), serve to move 'the feeder fingersstoward and from feeding position so that, say, any one or two of the various yarnscanbe. fed to the needles as desired. In-

asmuch asyarnchangers are well known and the'tspecific natureofthe-yarnchanger is not material to the-invention, the foregoing and the il1ustration"in"Fig.-= 'Tis-sufiicient for the present purposes; It 'is to be=understood,"however, that a yarn changeris not a wholly necessary element of'theinVention; i. e; the yarns can be fedby fixed yarn guides-; e-; g; two yarns from oneortwo guides fi'xed" at the pcsitions of i2 and I3 in Figs. 2-"and 7:

As'b'ef'ore-indicated, Iprefe'r to use aplating guide; such as 20, between the yarn guides or" fingers and:the-needle:bank- (at each feed, if the machine is :a: multiple feed machine), to-assure the yarnsapproaching-the needles in the desiredrelative positions; This .is notwholly necessary however;..especially where'the yarn guides, e. g.-

atiZ; andx l3; arewmounted permanently in yarnfeedingipositions; it .is.:quite desirable when :yarn changers are :used however... The platingguide is mounted; in:..a;s.fixed.1 position with respect. to theneedlezbank positiom -e g..it may-:bemounted. on.

a cam ring of the knitting machine. The plating guide has at least one guide surface (perhaps an eye but usually a notch or edge) on which the yarns pass, and preferably an individual recess for each yarn in action; e. g. a notch 22 for guiding the yarn II and a notch 23 for the yarn Hi. When a yarn changer is used with a plating guide, its yarn fingers can be so related that when one finger e. g. I3, is taken out of action another finger e. g. [5, can be brought to such a position that its yarn will occupy the same guide surface on the plating guide 20 as the yarn from the removed finger, l3, occupied.

In accordance with the invention, the yarns in action, e. g. I and II, approach the needle bank or banks in a more or less side by side relation and in a plane substantially perpendicular to the needle staffs 24 (e. g. in a horizontal plane when the needles are vertical as shown at A in Figs. 1 and 2), and of course first come to a needle the latch of which is open, and in about the relation to the latch shown at A in Fig. 1. As the yarn guides (including the plateguide 20, if used) continue to move away from the needle, and the needle is retracted toward cast-off position (or its retraction toward this position is continued, if started previously), the closing of the needle latch 25 first causes the latch to engage the outermost yarn in (position B, Figs. 1 and 2) and thenthrust this outermost yarn to a position between the inner yarn II and the needle hook (position C). As a result, when the needle hook is drawn to or within the edge of the needle bed 21 (or forecuts at the edge of the bed, Fig. 4;) so that a new loop is formed andcasting-oif of the old or previous loop ,IGa-I la occurs (about position D), the initially-outermost yarn i0 is necessarily outermost within the needle hook. vAs the needle is projected again, the two yarns Ill and I I continue to occupy the same positions relative to each other (position E, Figs. 1 and 2) Accordingly the two yarns, e. g. H) and H, are plated one on the other in a uniform manner. In any stitch, the outermost yarn It will be exposed to the eye at the side of the fabric which contains the loop or closed end of the stitch, and the innermost yarn II will be exposed to the eye at the opposite side of the fabric. Obviously the needles can be projected and retracted by any desired sort of mechanism, pattern controlled or otherwise; for example by a cam system as suggested in Fig. 5.

The foregoing description has had reference particularly to cases where all the yarn loops are drawn to one and the same side of the fabric of course, at least for a portion of a fabric. In such cases, one side or face of the fabric (or portion of the fabric) will appear to the eye'to be face to be composed of the other yarn l l, except as there may be some slight departure from this.v

due to variation in the needle operations, e. g. by the use of welt or tuck stitches. On the other hand, where some stitches of a fabric are drawn to one'side of the fabric and the remainder are drawn to the other side, e. g. in the manner of a links-and-links machine, a different action occurs. Thus, Fig. 3, when a links-and-links needle 38 draws a loop of, say, two yarns Ill and I I in one direction (say upwardly) the outermost yarn Ill passes to one side (say below) the innermost yarn H,- but if this needle draws a loop of the same yarns in the opposite direction (say downwardly) then the outermost yarn lil passes to the'opposite side (say above) the innermost:

.4 yarn H. Accordingly at any loop stitch of a fabric made by such operations, one of the yarns, say I0, will lie at one side or face of the fabric if the stitch is drawn in one direction, but will lie at the opposite side or face of the fabric if the stitch or loop is drawn in the opposite direction. Hence fancy efiects in color or yarn texture can be obtained at either side of the fabric by merely varying the directions in which the various stitches are drawn. That the direction in which the knit stitches are drawn in links-and-links machines is readily varied is well understood, and is indicated in Figs. 4 and 5. Fig. 4 shows one known manner of actuating by cams the jacks 3| which in turn actuate the needles 30, and in Fig. 5 is briefly outlined a known system of cams for actuating, at one feed, links-and-links doubleended needles 30 by jacks, and transferring the needles at will from a lower needle cylinder 32 to an upper cylinder 33 and vice versa. In the cam system of Fig. 5 the stitch cams will be recognized at 34. In view of the present knowledge of linksand-links knitting machines, the foregoing nee not be described further at present.

It will be understood that my invention is no limited to the details of construction and operation shown in the drawing and described above, except as appears hereafter in the claims, and that the claims are intended to include equivalents of the elements mentioned in them.

I claim:

1. The method of feeding yarns to a bank of needles to form a knitted plated fabric, which consists of feeding at least two yarns to the needles simultaneously, substantially side by side in substantially the same horizontal plane which is at right angles to the needle staffs, said yarns being fed to the needle bank in a position where the closing needle latches engage one of said yarns and thrust it to one side or the other of the other of the said yarns.

2. The subject matter of claim 1, characterized by the fact that some of said needles draw loops upwardly and their latches engage the outermost yarn and thrust it below the innermost yarn, and other of said needles draw loops downwardly and the latches of the latter needles engage the outermost yarn and thrust it above the innermost yarn.

3. The method of forming a fancy knitted fabric which consists in feeding simultaneously at least two yarns to a bank of knitting needles, said yarns being fed substantially side by side in a plane substantially at right angles to the needle staffs and in a position where the closing needle.

latches engage one of said yarns and thrust it to to one side or the other of the other of said yarns, and during at least a part of the time actuating at least some of said needles to draw loops 'of the yarns to one side of the fabric being knitted and actuating some of the needles to draw loops of the yarns to the opposite side of the fabric being knitted.

4. A knitting machine having a bank of needles, and a plating guide mounted in a fixedposition with respect to the position of saidbank needles.

5. The subject matter of claim-4. 'character- 1 5 6 ized by the fact that said. plating guide has a REFERENCES CITED plurality of yarn-guiding surfaces for 51mm The following references are of record in the taneous use. fil f ten 6. The subject matter of claim 5, in com- 6 O t 15 t bination with a yarn changer disposed to de- 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS liver yarns to said yarn-guiding surfaces. Number Na D t CHARLES F MILLER 1,292,917 Swinglehurst Jan. 28, 1919 1,666,794 Scott et a1. Apr. 1'7, 1928 1,769,662 Bentley et a1. July 1, 1930 10 1,933,408 Bentley et a1. Oct. 31, 1933 2.444.503 Getaz July 6, 1948 2,495,543 Peberdy Jan. 24, 1950 

